Bashir Mason flew 2,500 miles to find a guard from right down I-95 in Philly.

Devin Liggeons lives and plays just a few minutes from the Drexel University campus, in fact, where the Seahawks hoops coach made his basketball name not so long ago as 1,000-point career scorer and a four-time member of the Colonial Athletic Association all-defensive team.

Mason, who played point guard from 2003-thru-07 for the Dragons, visited the Las Vegas AAU extravaganza "Jam On It" a few weeks back as part of a whirlwind July recruiting odyssey.

Sources told the Advance that it was there he fell in love with the game of the 6-foot-3 shooting guard out of powerhouse Imhotep Institute Charter High School on Philadelphia's North Side.

Liggeons, an impact player since his freshman season for a two-time state championship program, verbally committed to Wagner Thursday on Grymes Hill as the first recruit of the 2015 Class.

The 18-year-old had also received offers over the last month from Niagara, Sacred Heart University and St. Francis U., and had peaked the interest of programs like Delaware, LIU, Elon, and some Ivy League schools.

"They're getting a good one," Imhotep coach Andre Noble promised of the athletic wing who averaged 13 points per game last season. "Devin's a winner who has played a meaningful role for us from the time he got here. He can score and defend and I think he's the highest character kid we've had since we started the program 13 years ago."

Wagner was the first of the five NCAA sanctioned official college visits allowed the product of Philadelphia's Mt. Airy neighborhood.

But once he had seen the Island school's campus, he was sold.

"I loved the school and I think the coaches are great," Liggeons said via phone Thursday. "I wanted to get the recruiting process out of the way before I started back to school, and I'm really excited."

Mason, who led Wagner to a second consecutive 19-12 season a year ago, is by NCAA regulation not allowed to comment on Liggeons until the rising high school senior formerly commits during the early signing period in October.

"I think one of my best attributes is that I'm gritty," Liggeons said. "I like playing defense and I know how to protect the basket."

The newest Seahawk played his AAU ball for coach Kyle Sample and Team Philly. And Sample believes Wagner landed a player who is still improving.

"When he first came to play for us, we were concerned that Devin might not be the scorer we needed," Sample said. "But we asked him to be aggressive and to be offense-minded, and he really made tremendous strides in improving his perimeter shooting. He's a really good athlete who can rise up over defenders, and he is a great, great person."